Small Talk
by sweetheartbreaker
Summary: That's all there is to it. That's all that should be there to it. There's nothing else. Nothing else, I swear! I swear to Kami, Ino-pig, shut up.


**Small Talk**

Uchiha Sasuke fiddled with his phone again. He was running out of things to do now. He'd managed to top his high score on the only two games he had on his phone quite a few times already, and scrolled through his social media every now and then that he'd passed through some updates thrice already. He already considered arranging his playlists and music folders, even start a blog or a Tumblr, but that would be a bit out-of-character for him. He considered them, though, and considering them meant that he wasn't being himself.

Ah, the what wonders waiting did to people.

Uchiha Sasuke hated waiting in line. He supposed that a lot of people hated waiting in line as well, especially when it's late in the afternoon, and there were other better things to do.

"Just call the family doctor, or something," his older brother suggested before he came here. That should have cut the waiting time in half. And even if Sasuke would have to wait, he would have waited in the comfort of his home.

But no, Sasuke had to have the pride to do everything exactly the opposite of what Itachi told him. And he didn't want to call the family doctor. Paying him would come from his personal allowance. The car he wanted won't buy itself, so he thought he would have to make do with getting in line for a while.

He was starting to regret his decision making.

It was his lousy decision making that made him need to see a doctor, anyway.

 _He climbed a tree_.

He climbed a tree because he was challenged by his friends that he wouldn't be able to do it normally because he was an Uchiha and Uchihas were snobs. They were right, of course, on both points, but Sasuke didn't want them to be right so he did it anyway.

He didn't fall down fortunately, but when he jumped down, the weight was too much for his right ankle that it hurt then. Of course, he didn't show pain on his face to his _friends_ when he got down. Three days after, he kept waking up to searing pain in his ankle, and he was convinced by his parents to go see a doctor.

The same nurse that had been there an hour ago came out of a hallway and scribbled something on the clipboard she was holding. "312?" she called.

Even though Sasuke knew what his number was, he still looked at the small square they handed him after he filled out his details in the reception area. It was 313. _Finally_. He was going to be the next one. It shouldn't take too long, too, since he was sure there was more than one doctor. Even in a public hospital, there should be more than one doctor doing checkups. Especially in public hospitals.

The door to the waiting room opened from the entrance and a pink-haired girl walked inside, and her entrance did something at the pit of Sasuke's stomach.

She didn't seem to notice him, which was only natural since he was sitting on the couch beside the door, and she walked directly to the reception area, where they handed her a paper to fill out. She nodded a few times and shook her head when they offered her a pen. _Typical of Sakura to bring her own_ , Sasuke thought.

He caught himself following her with his eyes when she took a seat nearest the counter and suddenly praying to Kami that the doctor actually took a lot more time with the patients that came before him.

She still hadn't noticed him yet, still too concentrated on writing her details on the form.

A nurse walked out of the hallway, and Sasuke almost jumped on his skin in surprise. But it wasn't the same nurse which held a clipboard with the list of the people who needed tending.

Sakura was again talking to the person behind the counter, listening intently at what she was saying, probably the same thing she said to Sasuke when it was his turn a while ago, that the doctors were trying to handle the number of people wanting to get checked up and she could make an appointment some other time if she wouldn't be able to wait to which Sakura shook her head. She was going to wait.

Again, Sasuke thought, _Typical of Sakura_.

The receptionist took her form and gave her the same kind of small square cardboard they handed Sasuke a while ago that contained her number which they will call when it was going to be her turn. Sasuke belatedly remembered that these kinds of things should be automated by now, since holding those cardboards can be a method of spreading germs. But what did he know about germs, anyway? If anyone knew something about them, it should be Sakura.

Sakura was standing up then, and then she bowed in thanks to the receptionist who directed her to the seats in the waiting room.

Sasuke immediately turned his attention to his phone which was opened to one of his social media accounts. He began scrolling down without actually reading the content, from time to time, making little eyebrow expressions, just so people wouldn't think he was just pretending to read stories in his phone.

He was sure she would have seen him by now. It was impossible to miss Uchiha Sasuke. Anyone in the street could recognize Uchiha Sasuke (or any Uchiha for that matter) from a distance. And he was just sitting there, she shouldn't have missed him.

The nurse with the clipboard walked out of the doctors' hall, and Sasuke muttered a curse. If he could, he would have killed the nurse on the spot before she managed to say anything else. But fortunately for Sasuke, she went out to tell the receptionist something and walked to the hallway again, without even looking at the waiting people.

Sakura already took a seat and was looking at the magazines on the table. She must be trying to look as normal as she could without being conspicuous about noticing him. At least, that's what he's been doing. She picked up a magazine and opened it at a page and began reading. Sasuke saw this. He saw everything while trying to pretend scrolling through his phone. He was convinced that he had magical eye powers to have done such a feat.

But that magical eye powers did nothing to get him to talk to Sakura. If anything, they only made him look like a stalker.

He sighed and put down his phone. He plucked the earbuds from his ears which weren't actually playing anything, and let them hang in front of him. Now or never. "Hey Sakura," he half-whispered which sounded weird in the quiet room.

Sakura's eyes lifted from the magazine and immediately to him, which was always the effect when you actually saw someone beforehand and not acknowledged their presence until they greeted you first. "Sasuke, hey. Didn't expect to see you here."

"You, too," he said, pocketing his phone. "What happened?"

She lifted both her hands. "They're swollen," she said before putting them back down to catch the magazine that almost fell from her lap. "Probably from something I ate. You?"

He pointed to his ankle. "Tree accident."

She blinked. "Oh that one with Naruto? I thought he said your were proudly successful." Yeah, it actually spread around school like wildfire. _Uchiha Sasuke can climb a tree_.

He laughed briefly. "Proudly, yes. Successful, no."

The nurse went back from the hallway, gaining the two's attention, and announced "313."

Sasuke flipped the small square cardboard to show Sakura. "That's me," he said and stood up. "Nice seeing you, Sakura."

"You, too."

When he reached the nurse that lead him to the hallway, he released a deep breath. _That was awkward_ , he thought. He at least had to think of something to say when he's going to go out of the room and see her again. A good bye should be proper, but should that be it?

To his disappointment, after the doctor recommended some painkillers and confirming that he didn't twist his ankle, when he went back to the room, Sakura wasn't there anymore. She must have been assigned to another doctor whose pace was faster than the one who looked at Sasuke. He frowned even as he thanked the nurses and walked out of the hospital.

...

Sakura didn't see him when she came in. She didn't see him when she was filling up the forms. She saw him when she looked up from the forms accidentally, as if she was drawn to look at him and her heart did a little tango that she hadn't felt in a long while. Dang, she thought. What's he doing here?

She went for a seat that had a respectable distance from him, not too close or too far. Just enough to see his eyebrows a little too drawn together as he looked at something on his phone. She knew she shouldn't be concerned. She picked up the first magazine her hands landed on and tried to make herself comfortable without spying on him too much. She tried not to jump when she saw him look at her direction. But she tried to look surprised when she saw him, trying to make it look like she didn't notice him from before.

When he stood up to see the doctor and she was sure he was out of sight, she immediately took out her phone to check her reflection. Why didn't she wear that lip gloss again? And she forgot to wear perfume. Her hair was a bit of a mess, but there's little she could do about that. Overall she looked presentable. She closed her phone, feeling a little lost. She hoped she looked pretty, at least.

She had to go to the bathroom to wash the haze on her eyes. Or just to wake her up. When she got back, she saw Sasuke walking out of the room, and she hid before his line of sight but where she could still clearly see him. She smiled a bit when he looked back twice before finally getting out of the waiting room.

She didn't wait long for her turn. Or at least that's what it felt like. She was already in front of the doctor before she noticed, and she handed her the form she filled out a while back.

"Swollen hands, uhuh," the doctor said and inspected her hands, asked her about what she ate, and her allergies then muttered as she scribbled a prescription order.

"Uh, do you something for the heart?" Sakura asked suddenly, unable to help herself. She immediately felt stupid, and thought the she should not have asked that.

She expected the doctor to ask her about her family history about heart diseases or pain she experienced in her chest area, but the doctor only took off her glasses and said, "Let me guess. You had a heartbreak sometime ago, and you thought you've moved on but you saw that person again, and now you're doubting yourself."

Sakura blinked. "Are you a mind-reader?"

The doctor placed back her glasses on her nose again, and resumed scribbling on the prescription pad. "A boy before you asked the same thing. You both had the same confused look in your eyes when you came in. Figured you were connected. Here you are," the doctor handed her the paper. "And no, sorry, sweetheart. Science is still catching up on romance-related pain."

Sakura laughed, somehow feeling relieved. "I know. Thank you."

"You're probably just feeling nostalgic. First love, no?"

Sakura made a face. "He told you that much?"

The doctor laughed and, for some reason, looking a lot younger than she was a while ago. Stress must have caught up on the poor professional. "He sounded sick. I told him he just probably missed you. Happens all the time."

"What did he say?"

The doctor shrugged. "Why don't you ask him? That would probably make for a better conversation than what you had in the waiting room a while ago."

Sakura put her face in head hands, trying to hide the blush and the smile on her face. "Sasuke," she muttered.

"Well, off you go, sweetheart. I have some more patients waiting for me."

Sakura stood up and bowed at the doctors. "Thanks for the small talk, doc."

The doctor winked at Sakura as she went out of the room.

She had some things to do. And some people to talk to. A person, she corrected herself. A person to talk to.


End file.
